EnglishPod - What's your name again?
M: Hello English learners! And welcome back to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.
E: Marco, I'm doing really well today!
E: Aha, we've got a great lesson for everyone.
M: Yes, we have a really common situation where we're gonna use real English, right?
E: Yep, everyday English, English that people really use.
M: And that's what we want you to learn. What are we talking about today specifically?
E: Today we have a really common situation that is a little bit embarrassing.
M: Hehe. Alright, an embarrassing situation, so, let's listen to the dialogue for the first time and it's gonna be kind of fast.
E: Yeah, but don't worry if you don't understand everything, because after ten minutes you'll understand everything.
M: Perfect, alright, let's listen.
M: Yeah, that's happened to me a couple of times and I'm gonna tell you about it a little bit later.
E: Okay. Alright, well, let's start with our three “language takeaways”.
M: So, our first word on our language takeaway is in a bit of a hurry.
M: So, Nick was in a hurry.
E: Yeah, that's right. This is a great phrase. So, let's listen to three examples of how you can use this phrase.
A: Can you drive faster? I'm in a bit of a hurry.
B: I can't talk right now, I'm in a bit of a hurry.
C: Ah, I'm in a bit of a hurry, so, I'll check these files later.
M: Okay, so, it's clear now. Basically, it means that you don't have time.
E: You're moving really quickly.
M: Okay, perfect. Now let's look at our second language takeaway word and it's contact details.
M: So, what are your contact details?
E: Basically, this is the information you can find on your business card.
M: Alright, so, we have like our name, our telephone number.
E: Your e-mail address, perhaps your mobile phone number.
M: So, all the useful information, so people can get in touch with you.
E: Yep, so, people can phone you or e-mail you. Okay, so, contact details.
M: Great. Okay, so, our third word is slipped my mind.
M: So, this is a funny phrase. It's kind of strange, right?
E: Yeah, slipped my mind. It sounds very weird.
M: Exactly.
E: Okay, so, now we're going to listen to two examples of this phase. Try and see if you can figure out what it means.
A: I'm sorry I forgot to respond your e-mail. It just slipped my mind.
B: Don't you know what day it is today?
C: Oh, it's your birthday! It completely slipped my mind.
E: Uh, so, slipped my mind is like “I forgot”.
M: Accidentally.
E: Right.
M: Okay, great! Now, it's time for “putting it together”.
M: Alright, Erica, why don't you tell our listeners what ‘putting it together’ is?
E: Well, ‘putting it together’ helps you put language together. It helps you be more fluent by knowing how words fit together.
M: Great, so, let's look at out first phrase today and it's around here.
E: Around here. So, this is like close by, right? [NOTE: “it is close by” or “it is quite near”]
E: Yeah.
M: I can say, for example, ah, “Is there a bank around here?”
E: Yeah, yeah, um, so, that's “Is there a bank close to here”.
M: Exactly.
E: Now, this phrase around here, we can change it a little bit…
M: Uhu.
E: And it means something a little bit different.
M: Right.
E: I could say “Marco, there's a great restaurant right around the corner”.
M: Right, and that would mean “There is a great restaurant on the other street”.
E: Yep.
E: Yep.
M: Great. Or we have another example, we can say around there.
M: Right, so, for example, I can say, uh, “Los Angeles is a great city; I used to live around there”.
E: So, you used to live near Los Angeles.
M: Exactly.
E: Alright.
M: It's a really good phrase and it's really common.
E: Yeah. Now, our next phrase in putting it together is terrible with.
M: Terrible with. So, we have a couple of examples that will show you how this phrase works.
A: You're terrible with numbers. You can't even remember your own telephone number.
B: I'm terrible with directions. I'm always getting lost.
C: I'm terrible with faces. I can never remember what people look like.
E: Wow! I understand that. I'm also terrible with numbers. I can barely add two plus two.
M: Hehe. Well, yeah, I guess, uh, not everyone is a numbers person.
E: Yeah.
M: I'm terrible with, uh, faces. I sometimes forget what people look like.
E: Really?
M: Yeah.
E: Oh-oh.
M: So, I think it's time now for us to listen to our dialogue a second time.
E: Okay, this time the dialogue will be a little bit slower.
M: Right.
E: So, try and listen for some of the words we've just talked about.
M: So, it's more clear now, you can understand a lot better, right?
M: Great, so, now it's time for us to take a look at “fluency builder”.
E: So, with fluency builder we take some very simple phrases and show you how you can be more fluent or how you can…
E: Yeah!
M: Great. In the beginning of the dialogue Ana said “Nick, how's it going?”
E: Yeah, this is a great phrase; it sounds really, really natural. You know, sometimes I hear students say “How are you?”
E: Those are two great phrases, but this one sounds really, really natural.
M: It just sounds more casual.
E: Yeah, let's listen again to that phrase from the dialogue.
Phrase: How's it going? How's it going?
M: Great, so, next time that you find a friend on a street, you can just say “Hey, how's it going?”
E: Yeah! So, Marco, have you ever forgotten someone's name?
M: Yeah, it's happened to me a couple of times and actually the most embarrassing situation was that I forgot a family member's name.
E: No!
M: Yeah.
M: We had like a family reunion and there were a lot of aunts and uncles and cousins that I hadn't seen in a while and I just forgot one of my uncle's names and I was…
E: Oh-oh, that's pretty embarrassing.
M: Yeah.
M: Hehe. Well, I had to ask one of my, uh, other cousins like “Hey, who's that guy?” and he's like “Oh, that's Uncle John” and I like “Oh, man, I totally forgot”. Yeah, so, it was really embarrassing, because I didn't know what to call him, so, I just called him Uncle, cause I didn't know his name.
E: Hehe. Yeah. So, when that happens to me when I'm in a business setting.
M: Uhu.
E: Sometimes what I do is I ask for someone's card.
M: Uh, yeah, that's the good technique.
E: Yeah, or sometimes I might ask them to write down their e-mail…
M: Hehe.
E: Cause usually their full name is spelled out in the e-mail address. So, that's my trick when I forgotten someone's name.
M: Hehe. That's a good trick and I guess…
E: Yeah.
M: A lot of our listeners can take your advice on that.
E: Okay, so, I think it's time for us to listen to our dialogue one more time, this time at natural speed.
E: Well, I hope that you've all enjoyed our lesson for today and remember to check out our website at englishpod.com.
M: Where you can find a lot of other resources and you can leave all your questions and comments.
E: Yeah, Marco and I are always on the site, so, we're happy to answer all of your questions.
M: Exactly, so, now it's time for us to say…
M: Bye!